The Sea Is Watching

My boyfriend and I both enjoyed this film very much. The viewer is swept away from modern life into old Japan, while at the same time exposed to very current themes. The characters are realistic and detailed; it has an unpredictable ending and story, which is very refreshing. The story is made up of mini-plots within the life of several geisha living together in a poor city district. I highly recommend this movie to anyone who is interested in a realistic romance or life in old Japan.

A tragically wonderful movie... brings us to a Japan that does not exist anymore. Despite Hollywood's technical expertise, I have yet to see a (hollywood) movie that can match the authenticity of the atmosphere in this small town by the river near the sea... Tom Cruise's The Last Samurai looked liked the last installment of the Lord of The Rings in trying to capture rural Old Japan.

If you like serene but intense story lines, this is a must see film. It will be a respite from hollow flashy films much like the last 1000 blockbusters you saw. I think this is one of Kurosawa's better stories.

Even if it's a movie about geishas and brothels and the complicated rules that govern life in such settings, it did not turn into a skin flick. The characters are full of depth and act with much intensity.

The simple story of a timeless truth. A lovely Cinderella-type story. I highly reccomend watching this film with good friends and a bottle of wine. This is a quaint story about a brothel girl in constant throes of unrequetted love from her clients. This happens over and over until the climatic ending of the movie where she is trapped in the brothel by a deadly flood. I saw this movie in my Japanese class. That was the only reason I didn't let myself cry. You will really love this movie.

This has become one of my all time favorite films. The cinematography is beautiful; it has an interesting plot; I like the characters. I am not crazy about some of Akira Kurosawa's samurai flicks (he wrote this movie) but I adore this film. This is probably my favorite Japanese film. I highly recommend it. I don't think you have to know anything about Japanese culture either. I heard that one criticism of Kurosawa's works is that he doesn't have many roles for women and tends to focus on men. This film really shows his ability to write about women and create wonderful women characters. But the great thing is that it isn't just character development. There is a good plot also. Everyone should see this film

I have seen this film and I found it terrific! I liked it very much. I think the Japanese culture is very different from our occidental culture, but this does not affect the enjoyment of it. I enjoyed it so much. I love Kurosawa and with this story I respect him more.

I've followed Kurosawa since Rhapsody in August, the seven samurai, dreams (I adore it) Vivir (I don't know the name in English) and so on. Kurosawa was a genius and one of the best movie directors of our time. It's a pity he has passed away.

The movies has beautiful locations, and the music captured me. The ending scene was great. The characters are very sweet; O-Shin is a adorable young woman.